Things Crona Can't Deal With: the Gender Binary
by Kalcifier
Summary: Crona knows that they don't understand a lot of things that are taken for granted, such as gender. And given Maka's... strong feelings on the subject, she doesn't seem like the right person to ask. So why not ask Kid?


It had been a group outing like any other. Crona's friends had decided to play basketball, as usual. Crona wasn't sure why they loved the game so much, but at least they knew the rules.

After a particularly one-sided game, all parties had agreed to change the teams. And for some reason, Black*Star had suggested they play boys versus girls.

Mama had protested immediately. "You'd get crushed!" she'd said. "We all know girls are just superior."

Patty had immediately agreed, giggling. Black*Star seemed about to argue when Tsubaki cut in, "What about Crona?"

"They'd be on our team, of course," Black*Star said. "A god like me isn't worried about the numbers, but they deserve to be on the winning team."

It had of course devolved into a meaningless back-and-forth about the relative strengths of each person present. And Crona had been left standing around awkwardly, as usual.

They were aware that they didn't understand a lot of things that were taken for granted. It was just another benefit of life under Medusa's rule, they supposed. Normally they'd wait until they were someplace private and ask Maka, but given how invested she was in the argument that seemed like a bad idea.

Their second choice in that situation would be to let it drop, but this seemed like something that came up a lot. Understanding it would probably help in the long run.

Which is why they were standing in front of Kid's door trying to will themself to knock. Kid was probably the person they were closest to after Maka, but his house was so intimidating. Maybe this was a bad idea after all.

No, they had to do this. They were reasonably sure that Kid wouldn't laugh at them or get them kicked out of the school or anything. It was going to be fine. Besides, if they took too long to act Ragnarok might take charge, and that would just be awkward for everyone.

With that thought in mind, they knocked on the door. There were the standard seconds of anxiety as they waited, and then the door opened. Thankfully, it was Kid on the other side. "Oh, hello, Crona," he said. "Not that it isn't a pleasure to see you, but why are you here?"

"I, um... I had a question I didn't want to ask Maka and, well, I was hoping you could answer it..."

Kid's eyebrows shot up, but he quickly schooled his expression back to neutrality. "Well then, come in. Liz and Patty are around somewhere, but if you want privacy I'm sure we can find an empty room. There are certainly enough around here..."

Kid stepped back to allow Crona to enter. They'd been to the mansion before, so they managed to avoid staring, but the entrance hall was so big they had to stop. Kid didn't seem to notice, already heading for some room or another, and after a moment Crona scrambled after him.

They navigated the hallways in silence. Crona thought they had a decent sense of direction, but the hallways all looked so similar that they quickly got lost. Kid clearly didn't have an issue, though, and eventually he stopped in front of a door that looked much like all the others.

"There are sitting rooms closer to the entrance, but this one both has a lock and is out of the way enough that it probably won't be necessary," he said. "I don't know how concerned with privacy you are, but I thought it would be better to sure."

Crona nodded. "This is good. Thank you."

Kid opened the door, revealing a mostly empty room. There was a coffee table in the center, flanked by two couches which faced each other. The walls were black and bare, which was weirdly comforting for Crona.

"Go on, sit down," Kid said, locking the door. "Now, I won't promise I have the answer you want, but I will answer to the best of my ability."

"Thank you," Crona said again. They sat down. They couldn't think of a good lead up to their question, and they didn't want to make Kid wait, so they decided to just get straight to it. "I was just wondering... How do people know if they're boys or girls?"

Kid didn't respond immediately, and Crona's heart sank. This was it, Kid would think they were weird and never speak to them again. This was something they should have understood, wasn't it, they were just pathetic and -

"I'm afraid I'm not the best person to ask," Kid said. "I've never quite understood it either; it all seems rather arbitrary to me."

"Huh?" Wasn't Kid a boy? Shouldn't he know about this?

"It wasn't really something I'd thought about before partnering with Liz and Patty. I just existed, and gender was irrelevant. But they looked at me and assumed from my appearance that I was male, and since I didn't care either way it didn't seem worth correcting them." He shrugged. "Frankly, I'd assumed it was just a Reaper thing until we met you."

Crona's memories of that time were fogged by madness, but when they thought about it they seemed to remember Patty complaining about not being able to tell if they were a boy or a girl. They could see why Kid might find it easier to go along with it.

"I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful," Kid said. "From what I can tell, if you're male or female you just know that you are. Soul might be more help; I believe he has a body considered atypical for men. Transgender is how he put it."

Crona thought about it, but that sounded like an incredibly awkward conversation. Besides, talking to Kid had helped a lot. They still didn't understand gender, but at least they knew they weren't alone. It helped reassure them that they weren't broken, or at least not over this.

"I think I'm fine," they said. "You've actually been really helpful, so thank you."

Kid smiled. "Any time," he said. "Now, while you're here would you like to move into a more comfortable room and continue this conversation? It's nice to be able to talk one-on-one."

"I'd like that," Crona said.

(As it turned out, they didn't get the chance, as they were waylaid by the Thompsons trying to find the kitchen. Somehow, they all ended up watching a movie together while Liz did Crona's hair.

As far as Crona was concerned, the visit had gone better than they could have imagined.)


End file.
